"Good morning guys! Whose ready for some shots!"

Vanessa came from the kitchen entrance holding a tray of mini shots. She clearly just hoped out of bed, wearing just a silk burgundy robe, black fluffy slippers and her hair up in a bun. For God sakes, she still had crust in her eyes. The only ones there to greet her with a blank dreary stare was Asta, Noelle, Yami, and Zora.

"Nothing like a good pick me up before an early morning mission."

She laughed making her way to the table and practically slamming the tray down, causing some of the liquor to spill over out of some of the glasses. Yami sighs then sparks his cigarette.

"Vanessa, give it a break will ya? Its 5 am..."

He looks over to her just to see her taking down a few shots completely ignoring him. Zora rests his face in his palm in embarrassment and begins to mumble under his breath.

"Good Lord."

Asta looks to the tray and begins to find an interest in her offer. He smirks.

"Why the hell not?"

He takes one of her shots then chugs it down. Everyone just stares in confusion. Noelle more worried than confused.

There he goes again.. this isn't really like him. Asta doesn't even drink.

"Alright, attention guys."

Everyone turns back to Yami who takes another puff before speaking.

"As we know, there's been some weird shit goin' on in Hage village lately..."

Asta's whole body goes stiff.

"We've been getting reports that there have been people dying in quite an interesting way. Apparently they are sleepwalking themselves to their death. Obviously there's a powerful mastermind behind this casting that spell. The deaths have been occurring around this time, so our job is to stop them from happening got it. I'll have Finral open a portal to your destination."

He takes another puff before continuing.

"And if you bump into that asshole, kick his ass. Bring him back to the Wizard King after."

A fiery rage of excitement begins to build up in Asta. Everyone nods in agreement.

"Say no more Captain Yami!" Yelled Asta.

Hage village... It's been awhile.

The team stood in the dirt road looking towards the abyss. Not too far from where they were standing stood the old church Asta grew up in. A kid like smile appeared on his face, he couldn't help it. That was home. Making their way to the entrance they could see Sister Lily waiting to greet them with a warm smile while waving her hand. Asta could see the age in her face now. Its been years so that's to be expected.

"Hey guys, I'm so glad you came down to visit."

Asta chuckled.

"Of course Sister Lily, we just wanted to stop by first to say our hellos before we start to patrol the village. We heard about all of those deaths that have been happening here lately. We were sent by Captain Yami to go and check it out."

Sister Lily's face went cold.

"Oh... yes. We have been in quite the pickle lately."

She tries to give a small smile but barely does, showing nothing but worry on her face. Everyone couldn't help but read her face like a book. This wasn't going to be easy.

"Please, come in. I have something to share with you before you continue your patrols."

She opened the church doors and held out her hand encouraging them to enter. Everyone begins to make their way into the dimly lighted church. Everyone turns to sister Lily who begins to close the door behind her and takes a deep breath before saying anything.

"Those deaths unfortunately have been effecting almost everyone, including the kids in the church. We've lost all of them."

Everyone stands there trying to take in the hard blow that she just spilled. Zora looks over to Asta just to notice that he's starting to tense up pretty bad. His fists are clenched, and he's very still.

"Not all at once but over the years."

"What do you mean years?! We just heard about this." Noelle yelled out.

Sister Lily lowered her head.

"Our church is a little out of the way from the village. We experienced many of these deaths first, started about 5 years ago. It took awhile for us to even catch on to what was happening! We just thought kids were running away or people just left off to explore life for themselves. We thought nothing of it..."

Sister Lily turned her attention towards her hands as she fiddled with her fingers trying not to show her anger on the subject.

"Once it hit the Royal Capital, that's when it started to catch the attention of others. Royalty was now being affected by these unfortunate events. I've been alone in this little church for two years now... I just never had the heart to tell you or Yuno. You guys were famous magic knights now. Why would I burden you with this?"

Sister Lily held her face to hide her tears as she wept. Asta said nothing but began to stomp his way over to her and take her into his grasp with a hug.

"I'm so sorry. I never meant to leave you here all alone. All those years... losing them one by one."

He pulls away from her and lifts her face while wiping her tears lightly with his hands.

"I promise you Sister Lily, I will find that son of a bitch. And once I take care of whoever it is, I will bring you to the Royal Capital so that you may live the rest of your life in comfort. I know of a bad ass nun that runs one of the churches out there that would love to take another sister of the cloth in. As a matter of fact, I think you may know her!"

Asta chuckles with a big smile. Noelle smiles at the sight of him being himself again.

There's the Asta I know!

Sister Lily smiles.

"I would love to take you on that offer Asta. Now don't let me keep you. You guys have a job to do."

Everyone smiles and replies in unison.

"Right."

Everyone begins to head out waving and saying their goodbyes to sister Lily. Sister Lily grabs hold of Noelle's hand before she could step out the building.

"Huh.."

She turns around to see sister Lily wearing a weary smile. She reached in her pocket and pulled out rosary beads with a cross on the end and put it in Noelle's palm before closing it.

"I felt an immense form of power seeping off of Asta... This will help when he loses control."

Noelle looks down to her closed palm.

A stupid little bead necklace. I thought it would be dosed up with a spell or somethin' but I'm getting nothing from it.

Noelle looks up to her and giver her a warm smile before nodding her head turning around and making her way out the door before being stopped once again.

"Remember Noelle, your playing with the devil now."

Noelle freezes in her footsteps taking that word in. Devil. Gave her shivers. Choosing not to respond to her she began to speed walk her way out.

The four began to make their way down the dirt road and in the direction of the houses of the other villagers. It was pretty early in the morning so most people were asleep. That made looking for any sleepwalkers easier.

"Alright everyone, I think it's best if we split up. We'll cover more ground." Said Vanessa while adjusting her hat as her little red kitted jumped on her shoulder.

Everyone nodded in agreement and began to go their separate ways

"I'm going with you short stuff, don't need you goin' awol on anyone."

Asta laughs as he opens up his Grimoire and pulls his sword out laying it on his shoulder to rest as he began to walk.

"Sure, dude whatever."

Noelle continues to walk in her own direction but looks back watching Asta and Zora.

Keep Asta safe..

She turns back and shakes her head to focus herself at the task at hand. Focus. She continues to walk down the road looking back and forth only hearing the crunch of the dirt beneath her shoes as she walks. As she continues her walk she notices a dark figure slowly walk across the dirt road and disappear behind another house a few feet away from her.

Got one.

Noelle begins to run down the road straight for the house the figure disappeared behind. Once she reaches the house she frantically looks back and forth for the figure but can't see a thing. In a low dreamy voice she can hear someone sing her name like a melody.

"Oh Noelle my sweet... Come out and play with me."

"Noelle gets her Grimoire ready and goes in a fighting pose ready for anything.

"Show your face coward!"

A mist of clouds begin to form around her area. She squints her eyes while looking all around for any threats. She begins to cough a bit due to the excess clouds that were beginning to form.

"But if I do you won't play fair. And we can't have that now can we? I sure am glad you and your friends came out to play with me."

"Show your face!"

Slowly Noelle began to make out a figure coming through the clouds. Matter of fact, there was more than one. And they were coming from every direction. Noelle's Grimoire begins to glow as she gets a spell ready.

"Now Noelle. Do you think its nice to greet the poor fellow villagers of Hage village like that?"

What the fuck is this guy blabbering about?

The figures became more clear. Her eyes widened to what she saw. It was some of the villagers sleep walking, but they were headed straight for her. Her eyes began fixed on a familiar face. It was Father Orsi, the pastor of the church who worked with sister Lily. Noelle ran up to him and began shaking him vigorously.

"Father Orsi! Wake up! Snap out of it, please!"

The anonymous voice giggled.

"Didn't anyone ever tell you to never wake someone up that's sleepwalking?"

Eyes still closed, Father Orsi began to grab ahold of Noelle's neck with both hands and apply all his strength to his grip. Noelle struggles trying to break free from his grasp.

"P-please-"

She struggles trying to grasp for air.

"Help."

With one of her hands she reaches for her wand behind her but one of the villagers from behind grabbed it from her and broke it in half. Her vision began to blur but she could hear the mischievous giggles from her enemy.

"This is fun! You sure do know how to make an entrance, I mean you are royalty."

He lets out another boisterous laugh.

Asta... help.